Dive Brief:
- On Thursday, Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT) along with seven other Democratic senators introduced a measure to repeal ACA’s “Cadillac tax,” reports The Hill.
- The "Cadillac tax” is a controversial measure intended to reign in healthcare spending via an excise surcharge (40%) on high-cost employer sponsored health insurance plans. It will go into effect in 2018.
- Alongside Sanders, co-sponsors include Sens. Patrick Leahy (VT), Chris Murphy (CT) and Charles Schumer (NY).
Dive Insight:
The tax may not be slated to go into effect for another two and a half years, but it's already causing significant consternation among employers and labor unions.
The measure would tax employers whose health insurance plans cost more than $10,200 a year for individuals and $27,450 a year for families at 40% of the cost above those limits.
The Hill reports the bill puts pressure on Sanders’s fellow presidential hopeful Hillary Clinton to take a side on her position of the tax.
This bill is separate from the bipartisan measure Sens. Dean Heller (R-NV) and Martin Heinrich (D-NM) introduced last week to repeal the Cadillac tax.
According to The Hill, the current administration is unwilling to discuss talks of a repeal because neither of the introduced bills include a replacement strategy plan for “the estimated $87 billion in revenue from the tax.”